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Black mark for school ‘sin bin’
9:22am Monday 26th May 2008
Comments (2)CONTROVERSIAL plans to create sin bins' for unruly primary school pupils today received a thumbs down from York's education chief.
The Government's schools secretary, Ed Balls, has outlined plans to temporarily remove pupils as young as five from normal classes and sent to special units to tackle bad behaviour at a young age.
The scheme would also see teachers identify children most likely to "go down the wrong track", including pupils with special needs and those with parents in prison.
Targeting children between five and 11 would prevent them being permanently expelled in their teens and then falling into a life of crime, he said.
The comments were made as he published a new white paper to radically transform education for unruly and vulnerable pupils.
But today Carol Runciman, City of York Council's executive member for children's services including education, hit out at the plan.
She said: "I don't like the idea of dumping a child out of the classroom for a short time and then dumping them back in. You have to be very careful how you do it.
"In York we already have nurture groups which we feel are far more effective. Sometimes there are very complex issues in a child's life outside of the classroom which sometimes make them react and not be able to cope with the structure within school.
"Our nurture units are a place where children can go to calm down and take a little time out with trained professional people. Sometimes this is all that is needed.
"The problem with sin bins is that you are already labelling a child and they can sometimes begin to take pride in being sent to the sin bin. The problem is they can't stay in them forever and you have to put them back into mainstream education and that has to be handled very carefully."
However Nick Seaton, chairman of the York-based Campaign for Real Education, welcomed the idea. He said: "In principle I think this is a good idea and I think parents will welcome it. We all know how children's education can been disrupted by one or two trouble-causers.
"Pupils have got the message that they can pretty much do what they like. It's time to let them know there are consequences to their misbehaviour."
Under the Government's new plans, existing pupil referral units - which educate pupils permanently excluded from school - will be revamped with a new curriculum focusing on the basics of English and mathematics and targets to improve attendance and exam results.
Private companies and charities would be invited to run a new generation of schools for the most difficult pupils. This includes a trial of so-called "studio schools" where pupils aged 14 to 19 excluded from ordinary schools can learn a trade, such as carpentry and plumbing.
Teachers working in the units could receive extra pay for dealing with more pupils with special needs, the white paper suggested.
The white paper also proposed sending pupils to new-style alternative schools at a younger age - before they have committed an offence that would require them to be expelled.
Have your say
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Papa Lazarou, Walmgate says...
9:25pm Mon 26 May 08
parents must also take the brunt of the responsibility of controlling their children and making amends for any of their actions.
The reason children are out of control is almost always due to problems at home.
Specialist boarding schools can prevent the need for fostering while providing the kids with much needed stability and the opportunity to learn some social skills without damaging other children's educational prospects.
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jackk, n.yorks says...
12:08pm Mon 26 May 08
A work colleague told me that a couple of weeks ago in the village at the end of Stockton Lane a number of primary school children spent the day bullying another, after school they went to this childs home pretending remorse then stole some items.
When the school heard out about the out of school incident they decided they had better take some action. The initial reaction was to exclude the pupils involved, but then as this would look bad on the schools reports they had a change of mind. They eventually decided to exclude them from normal lessons using the only spare room available, the computer suite. So the bullies went home bragging that no one be able to use the computers for weeks because they were having full use of them instead of doing lessons. Next day the school had another change of mind the bullies were sent into normal lessons and no more was said.
It seems the school prides itself on its bulling policy but only as long as no one finds out they ignore it.
While criticising schools for not enforcing their rules there is another side of the problem in that teachers should not be the ones having to sort out unruly children. Parents have 5 years before their child attends school, which includes free places at nursery, in which to teach their children how to behave correctly in society and relate to others. If they have failed to do this they must be made to take full responsibility for the actions of their children.
Unruly pupils are usually the troublemakers on the streets so parents must also take the brunt of the responsibility of controlling their children and making amends for any of their actions.
Parents must ensure that their children dont disrupt others at school. If this means they have to sit in classrooms with them so be it.
Rather than issue ASBOs to children/teenagers the parents should be issued with a controlling order so the child is not out of the house without a supervising adult who takes full responsibility for the childs actions.